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UFC Undisputed 2010 First Look

Dana White on his initial blacklisting of any fighter that would sign with EA Sports MMA:

Anybody who knows my style -- I come out guns a-blazing if you try to come in and compete with me. Yes, I've softened my stance. A lot of these fighters don't have the best representation and I've seen more guys make more bad moves over the last ten years, so I'm over it. It'll work out.

Playing Nice: What We Saw

Sometimes in life, like in a fight, it's important to recognize when you've made a mistake and to change your position. Lots of what UFC 2009 did worked well, but some things were just begging to be changed, and the developers recognize that. No longer do you have to mash buttons to get out of submissions, for instance, though spinning to lock them in should still be there.

But as Dana knows, talking trash can help get into your opponent's head. It looks like UFC 2010 will be including a career mode that'll involve disrespecting other fighters in order to gain popularity while negatively affecting your relationships. Hopefully there's at least as much depth to this as what we've seen in the Smackdown series' "Road to Wrestlemania" story modes. THQ's writers did a good job of mimicking the televised storylines, and that level of attention to detail, even if the UFC isn't "fixed," would be appreciated here as well.

Realism: What He Said

Dana White on lack of knowledge of ground games holding back the UFC and its videogames:

Actually, I thought that's what was going to happen. We come from a society where [fighting] has all been stand-up our whole lives. It's not only that all we'd ever learn was stand-up, but you were taught that you don't hit a man when he's down!

In the old John Wayne movies, he'd hit somebody, but he wouldn't jump on a guy and hit him. He'd stand him back up and hit him again. Everything about this made no fucking sense to the United Sense. Asians and other cultures, they've been fans of martial arts for years, so they get it more. But I'm blown away by how fast this country has caught on to the ground game.

You'll be at a UFC event, and a guy will go for a submission, and you'll hear the crowd start to cheer, like "He's gonna get it!" And the other guy will get out of it and they'll cheer for that.

Now, with this game, the young kids that start playing it will see the setup, they'll know how to pull off the submissions, they know the names of all the fighters. THQ has done such a good job of making this thing so real, it's almost like watching a UFC fight but it's a videogame.

Realism: What We Saw

THQ is trying to bring additional realism to the UFC game in 2010, addressing the "gamey" elements of the previous title and making the action flow more like a real fight. You can smoothly switch from an orthodox stance to southpaw, for instance -- perhaps to protect an injured area or exploit a fighter's defensive weakness.

Ground-game-loving fighters will dig the fact that you can go for a submission from nearly any position, and swap from one transition to the next in fluid motions, perhaps dropping a failed kimura attempt to go for a straight armbar instead. In real ground battles, fighters rarely lie still and wait for the submission to sink in, and fighters with the dominant position often posture up to rain down blows instead of simply laying and praying for a decision. You can posture up from any position now, making for far more strategic options when you're on the mat.

What We Want

Dana White and THQ appear to work well together, and it's good to see that the franchise isn't just rehashing its last game and churning out a roster update like so many sports titles before it. Despite a strong opening effort, a weak initial online experience (a post-release patch helped matters immeasurably) and a shallow career mode kept UFC Undisputed 2009 from reaching true "must-have" status. These areas of much-needed improvement weren't touched on in this first look, which means that they should end up overhauled in some way -- at least if the devs know what's good for 'em!

I'm looking for a focus on setting up lag-free play this time around, as well as some sort of organized play system, something akin to custom leagues or tournaments. The ideal career mode is also staring us in the face: "The Ultimate Fighter." The popular reality show would make an ideal structure for a created-fighter career mode, but it would need the following:

Fighter getting kicked off the show due to herpes outbreak

The option to bully a fighter incessantly or at least until he suffers a mental breakdown

Chubbier fighters having to cut weight and stripping down to their man-panties during the weigh-in

Based purely on first impressions, it looks like the dev team is committed to improving upon last year's effort in round two -- a big step in the right direction.